I can’t tell whether a male or female is holding this baby.
It is easy to see the groups that live in the Ifrane National Park because they have become habituated to humans and getting food handouts. I read online “feed them anything you have.” ACK! Don’t people know anything about wild animals? NO FEEDING wild animals.
Visitors don’t recognize these animals as wild considering how close they get, trying to feed and pet them. I kept a bit of distance, knowing these animals can inflict a lot of damage with a scratch or bite.
It’s also clear that the macaques get a lot more food from handouts than any source in the forest. If tourism declines, they’ll starve. Someone said that different groups occupy the picnic area at different times of the day, rotating through the feeding area. I also heard someone say that when the macaques get tired of peanuts they throw them away, preferring bread. (A vendor sells bananas and peanuts to visitors.) It was fun to see them, but now we need to imagine a way to make visiting the macaques better for the animals. Otherwise, they’ll become obese and diabetic caricatures of us, begging for cokes and big macs.
Fantasia, or cavalry charge, is the name given to a popular Moroccan sport and neither name does justice to the event, which is a cross between a game of “chicken” and a battle from Game of Thrones. We went to Tissa, where a well known Fantasia and horse fair are held every September. We watched practice runs for a local competition to be held this week and saw junior teams learning the ropes.
Inside the tents, men drank tea, chatted and checked their cell phones while waiting for the competition to begin. We were invited into the tent belonging to a cousin of our driver, Simohammed. The tents are huge and brightly patterned on the interior.
Each extended family has a tent. Families stay 5-7 days for a competition.
No faces, please.
Guns at the ready
The fantasia is a competition among teams of nine to twelve men on horseback carrying antique rifles. The goal is for the team to charge in a single straight line at top speed, pulling up as a unit as close as possible to a chalk line at the end of the field, while firing their rifles overhead. A perfect team fires the volley and it is heard as a single shot. The horses are bedecked with elaborate gold, green and red embroidered trappings and saddles, and the men wear a range of clothing from matching white robes and soft leather boots, to jeans and tshirts. (Their clothing is probably more elaborate on competition days.)
The advantage of attending the practice sessions is that several teams were on the field at once, sometimes with two groups charging down the field at the same time. Spectators along the sides of the field can judge the straightness of the line as it builds up speed down the field. We moved from the side to the end of the field.
We moved from the side to the end of the field.
The center horse in gold trappings is the leader’s ride.You feel like an extra in a movie. Riders charge toward you and then they shoot!
Terrifying, except that the crowd applauds and laughs, both admiring and relieved that the horses held up at the line and that the guns shoot powder but not shot. Every charge looks like the horses will trample the wall of spectators and the cars and trucks behind them, but they don’t. Spectators are kept about 6 feet back from the chalk line, so there’s not a lot of room for skittish or out of control horses.
Teams compete locally and regionally, with national championships in the fall. The national champions must look like a bloodthirsty drill team. I’d love to see them.
A medina is a walled city, very exotic for a visitor, and it’s easy to forget that medieval here isn’t just an adjective. In Fez, this means that many buildings are hundreds of years old, maybe their foundations really are a thousand years old. I find that close to unimaginable.
Today some structures are sagging a bit.
When Fez was founded, the ideal medina house, called a dar, or riad, was a tower 12-40 feet square (about 3.5-12 m), and about three stories tall. This was completely closed to the outside with only a small door.
Our front door, repelling all comers.
There were no windows at all, no balconies, no porches. The interior of the tower consisted of narrow rooms around the sides of the tower and an unroofed central courtyard open to the sun, also the rain. Rooms open to the central courtyard received lots of light, but very little if they were walled off for privacy. Narrow stairs led to the second or third stories, and there was a terrace on the roof around the central opening. Today, houses have that footprint, with small windows added. A portion of the roof is usually the laundry and the rest for family life, though a tent can be set up to provide a rooftop sleeping area.
Living in such a house today requires adapting to the footprint. The central patio has to be rainproof if not covered, so rugs can only go in the alcoves around the sides. Our riad has roofed the central courtyard and added a chandelier. There is lots of natural light.
This bedroom has the only window to the outside in our riad.
Bedrooms must adapt to the long, narrow shape and can be dark, though in larger houses the bed is at one end and a comfortable sitting area is at the other end of the room.
Over the rooftops from our house. The Borj Sur is on the hilltop in the distance.
A roof terrace can be wonderful and usually has a view over the surrounding neighborhood.
The downside is the flights of narrow stairs that must be climbed to get there. If you plan to have tea or dine on the roof, you must carry trays to the roof from the ground floor kitchen. That shows my prejudice because we eat our meals at home. Not everyone would think about whether to eat in the dining room or on the roof–they’d pick a restaurant!
Upgrades have been made over the last thousand years. The central air shaft is usually surrounded by a railing or otherwise protected. A cover is often used to keep out rain, converting the ground floor into a living area. On the other hand, such coverings, even pale canvas, dim the interior light and close a vent for the kitchen–important for cooks. Keeping in mind that plumbing and sewers are all additions of the 20th century, there is still a need for ventilation after it rains or any time there are sewer troubles.
A medina tower is therefore short on sunlight in the rooms and iffy on fire safety, but safe from attack by barbarians. It’s a wonderful experience.
There may be nowhere more beautiful than a Roman ruin on a spring day and Volubilis, one of Morocco’s best known archaeological sites, was perfect for us.
On the main street, the Decumanus MaximusThat keystone looks loose!
Volubilis was abandoned by the Romans in AD 285, but not by the local community, who lived there for another 700 years. The site has little new construction since AD 1000, part of the reason it was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/836
The architecture is extensive and an interested visitor could spend all day exploring the arches and stairways, admiring the mosaics. Lyra did her best and saw more than the rest of us.
Volubilis is justly famed for its mosaics. There could be a guidebook just to show the locations of the different mosaic floors.
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Though a large section of the site was cleared by French workers during the era of the French Protectorate (1912-1956), little to none was supervised by archaeologists. The French archaeologists Marcel and Jane Dieulafoy were commissioned to carry out a project at the site, but Marcel had duties for the French government in Morocco and Jane fell ill from dysentery, from which she died in 1916. The Volubilis initiative seems to have been an effort to lay a scholarly stamp on a mostly political project. The clearing of Roman Volubilis was a blatant effort to demonstrate the “classical” and European connections to the area as justification of the French colonial intervention.
Edith Wharton visited Morocco in 1918 as a guest of French authorities and visited Volubilis briefly. She was very much a Francophile and believed the French were imposing (Western) order on (Eastern) chaos. She saw Moulay Idriss on a nearby hill, bright white in the afternoon light, but her visit did not change her view:
“…the two dominations look at each other across the valley: one, the lifeless Roman ruin, representing a system, an order, a social conception that still run through all our modern ways; the other, the untouched Moslem city, more dead and sucked back into an unintelligible past than any broken architrave of Greece or Rome.”
Today is different. We enjoyed our visit to Volubilis. We even found a shaded spot for our picnic lunch. However, we were also happy to stop in Moulay Idriss, find a cafe and sip coffee among the living, before heading back to Fez.
While at the Cafe clock, we saw a poster for an exhibit of historic photos of Fez from the early 20th century that have been restored and reprinted. The gallery is not far from our riad and is in a restored riad, so we decided a field trip was in order. We found our way there without difficulty, though it was in Gzira, the easternmost part of the medina, an area not known for an influx of foreign owners.
The restored riad, Dar Balmira, is spectacular, decorated with traditional carved and painted wood, carved plaster and zellij tile mosaic. The owner, Jearld Moldenhauer, was very gracious about our visiting without a reservation and showed us around the galleries and the beautiful rooftop deck with his feathered guests, cockatiels, small parrots and rosellas.
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We did not purchase any prints, but we enjoyed our visit very much. Though you can drop in, contact information can be found at:
darbalmira.com
This is a great place to visit for the art, the interiors and the rooftop!
There is a thriving wine industry in Morocco, mostly consumed domestically. It is possible to purchase wine in this Moslem country at the “Cave” or wine cellar at the Carrefour grocery store. (We also heard that the Marjane chain of grocery stores ended liquor sales and found their overall business dropped 20-25%.)
We planned to taste wine in the Meknes area ever since Joyce and Jean-Marie indicated that it was possible to do so. It’s not as easy as in California, perhaps, but a wine tasting is available at Chateau Roslane, located south of Meknes. It is part of the group, Les Celliers de Meknes.
The property was lovely and we were able to find it with the directions given and phone GPS.
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We tasted some of the best wines Chateau Roslane makes, including La Perle du Sud sparkling wine, a chardonnay and a red blend of shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and merlot. We were disappointed that we could not purchase bottles during our visit, but that may be coming in the future. Who knew that Fez-Meknes area wines would be so attractive? We have only drunk Moroccan wines during our stay and generally have been happy with them.
After the wine tasting it was lunchtime and we were able to stop at a nearby place with an attractive dining room in extensive grounds with an area of lodgings, a large pool and play area. I mention this because it had no identifying sign or name on it, yet was clearly for guests. We were recommended to it by the winery.
Our friends Joyce and Jean-Marie joined us at the riad and brought their car, so we took advantage to do some exploring outside the medina. The book “Fez from Bab to Bab” by Hammad Berrada, is a classic guide to the medina and it starts by suggesting a driving tour around the ancient city walls. The French “Guide Bleu” has a similar tour. We started by walking to the parking lot, passing the traditional medina transport:
There are two large fortresses on either side of Fez. The Borj Sud provides a view over the medina and away to the south.
Kestrels and jackdaws live in the many nooks and crannies in the Borj Sud. They zip in and out while you are having your photo op.
Borj Nord is on the other side of the city, past several other gates and old bridges. There is a military museum there, but as has been our luck in Fez, it was closed. From the Borj Nord you can see how far modern Fez spreads from the medina. The new city or Ville Nouvelle, (not to be confused with the new city of the 1400s Fez Jdid), is not particularly close to the Medina. It’s a separate city, not surrounding the old walled medina that is in the foreground below.
We intended to savor the view of the city from the Palais Jamai, an elegant hotel situated on the northern edge of the Fez medina, but it is closed for renovation. We continued along the walls to Bab Boujlud, parked and walked in to the Cafe Clock. The “clock” is a puzzle, a series of brackets supporting brass bowls that caught a brass ball signaling the hour. Behind the facade, water draining from a tank at a constant rate was used to determine the passage of time. However, none of this has worked since the death of the clockmaker in about 1400. The bowls were removed in 2004 for restoration, which has not taken place.
The 13 lower brackets hold brass bowls in photos from the early 20th century. Today the cafe is as much a landmark as the “clock” itself.
The cafe has a very nice roof terrace with lots of shaded tables. As long as you can climb the four flights of stairs to get there, it is lovely. After lunch we made our way back to the Bab Jdid parking and the delightfully cheerful Mohammed, chief parking attendant.
We planned for a long time to stay a month in the Fez medina. Now we are here in a riad of our own.
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There are lots of surprises in the medina. No cars are allowed in most of the area, but donkeys and horses clop back and forth. The animals give you time to get out of the way, but the motorcycles are a menace.
We’ll start with a neighborhood landmark, Bab Rcif. There are 15 of these large gates around the city of Fez. Fortunately, each seems to be a landmark for taxi drivers, so we can now get home from anywhere by saying “Bab Rcif”!
This is the bottom of the hill we walk up to get to our riad.
Here’s the view from the upper end of our neighborhood.
There are a lot of different kinds of buildings, new and old. The walk takes us past homes, workshops, and other riads.
By the time I took these photos we had three days to walk around–it’s takes some time to start learning your way around the Fez medina. We started by taking a walk with a guide for a couple of hours, and got a sense of the main route home. Our guide, Khlafa Elasefar, was excellent. His English was very good, he understood our goals and only pressed us to do a little that we didn’t want to–and that was to spend more time at the historic sites. We saw a few of the sights during our orientation. “Agave silk” is beautiful. I didn’t know that agave fibers had such a luster. (I’m going back to buy a scarf.)
The blue blur is his thread
These weavers move fast
Jonathan confers with the spice seller.
There are fragrant heaps of spices in the market, but for freshness and purity, closed jars are preferable. Our guide brought us here and we bought all we need for our stay.
We took in the mosque (no photos) and the Attarine Mederesa, formerly a school with 150 rooms for boarding students who came from far beyond Fez.
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We also visited the Sidi Moussa tanneries. The traditional tanneries of Fes are a big attraction, despite the smell they generate during hot weather and the colorful and possibly poisonous runoff. After some debate about whether to move the tanneries out of town, Fes seems determined to keep this tourist attraction and the Sidi Moussa tanneries have recently been renovated. Now the larger, better known Chaouwarra tanneries are under renovation and only the Sidi Moussa tannery is active. The benefit of a tour guide was finding this out before the hike to the closed tannery. It did not smell very much during our visit, but the weather is cool, it’s spring, not summer. We were given a sprig of mint to sniff, and that was pleasant, if not strictly necessary.
The white vats are the smelliest, where a mix of limestone and pigeon poop softens the skins and removes the hair. The dye vats are the brown ones. Huge cylindrical machines wash hides between phases. The finest skins take a month to be processed and dyed. The balconies overlooking the tannery all belong to merchants selling leather products. A young salesman said they could complete a custom leather jacket in three hours.
It was a lot to take in. What you don’t see here is our efforts to buy cups of coffee, fruits, vegetables and meat, water, salt. Even more difficult is to ask directions. Or to not ask directions, because sometimes people want to help you when you don’t want help. “I am not lost, thank you. I am taking a walk. Yes, walking. No, thank you.” Etc. People mean well, but it’s not very relaxing.
Rabat is Morocco’s capital. It has strong competition from Casablanca for economic prominence and with Marrakesh for cultural prominence. I’d like to see the capital with museums that reflect the best of all periods of Moroccan history, but Rabat seems to have thrown in the towel on the museum front. I already mentioned my fruitless search for the traditional jewelry from the palace collection. (These pieces are from an exhibit in Marrakesh in 2014.) The traditional jewelry is extravagant and beautiful.
Next up was the archaeology museum in Rabat to see the Roman era bronzes recovered from the site of Volubilis, an ancient Roman city near Meknes. Anyone planning to visit the site tries to see the bronzes in the museum. No luck for us. The main gallery of material was closed, with only a few small items on view along with a reconstructed mosaic floor. Objects had been removed with only a “not on display” tag in their place. There was little information about objects apart from the name of the site. It was depressing.
Columns in the courtyard that needs a sheep for grass cutting.
Reconstructed mosaic floor from a villa at Volubilis.
Traditional Moroccan tilework, or zellij.
Not all museums have been abandoned in the capital, however. The Mohammed VI Foundation supports the new Museum of Contemporary Art in Rabat. It is a large building with extensive exhibits of art by Moroccan artists. Too bad some support couldn’t be shared with other museums.
This piece is at the contemporary art museum in Rabat. The tiled surface seems to refers to the traditional zellij tile work found in all historic Moroccan structures. Too bad museums where examples of traditional zellij might be seen are all closed. (There are museums in other cities in Morocco, just not in the capital.)
We went on to the ruins of Chellah, an ancient Roman city within what is now Rabat. There may have been earlier occupation by Carthaginians and Phoenicians, but the Roman settlement is what can be seen today. Here’s the Roman era:
The long occupation here is indicated by the reuse of older dirt full of pottery fragments by people making mud walls at a later time.
The ruins are maintained in a garden setting, and are home to a colony of storks. This is probably not good for conservation of the site, but it enhanced our visit.
I am pretty sure that Dr. Seuss has been here.
Chellah was used as a necropolis (burial area) during a much later period (Merinid) and the storks are as partial to the mosque for nesting as they are to other locations. There was a lot of clacking of beaks going on as male storks competed for attention.
The Merenid ruins revealed a interesting sights, including a piece of zellij similar to one we saw in the archaeological museum, and a man feeding the cats that are everywhere.
Zellij in situ
Man feeding 15 cats
There wasn’t a lot of information about the site or any archaeological research that has been done here. There are men willing to provide guide service that have to be eluded or turned away at the entrance. I do not believe they have any information about the site either, other than the dates of construction of the Roman and Merenid structures. There are a couple of signs if you read French or Arabic. They, too, focus on dates. Overall, the scene for ancient culture in Rabat is pretty limited. It’s a view that has endured from the 19th century that people benefit from being in association with ancient ruins, an osmosis-preferably-with-a-picnic as a way to absorb an appreciation of monumental works from the past. My impression is that Morocco has too many unoccupied palaces and too few well-endowed museums.
It’s also clear that the macaques get a lot more food from handouts than any source in the forest. If tourism declines, they’ll starve. Someone said that different groups occupy the picnic area at different times of the day, rotating through the feeding area. I also heard someone say that when the macaques get tired of peanuts they throw them away, preferring bread. (A vendor sells bananas and peanuts to visitors.) It was fun to see them, but now we need to imagine a way to make visiting the macaques better for the animals. Otherwise, they’ll become obese and diabetic caricatures of us, begging for cokes and big macs.
Llywindatravels 2026 